The 50's  was undoubtedly the golden era of Hindi films blessed with directors and artistes who could stamp their individuality on their work. One such personality who carved a niche for himself as a director, actor, and producer in the decade, was Guru Dutt Shivshankar Padukone, popularly known as Guru Dutt. His films had a uniqueness, a brooding intensity, so much so that a single frame of his work could be identified as his own.

Guru Dutt was born on July 9, 1925 in Bangalore. His father Shivshankar Padukone worked as a school headmaster and then in a bank in Bangalore, and his mother Vasanthi was a school teacher. He had two brothers and two  sisters.

He had his early education in Calcutta. Financial constraints did not allow him to study further than matriculation which he completed in 1941. His creative instincts were manifest from a young age. He was interested in photography and had a natural inclination for dancing and music especially Hindi and Bengali folk music. He joined the 'Uday Shankar India Culture Centre' in Almora. After his dance training, he got a break in films as a dance director on a three-year contract at Prabhat Films, Pune when along with choreography, he assisted directors otherwise and even acted in some small roles. After his contract with Prabhat was over he managed to get a job as assistant director to Amiya Chakravarty, a leading film director at the time, in his film 'Girls School', and in 1950 he assisted Gyan Mukherjee in Bombay Talkies film 'Sangram'.

Finally in 1951, he was called upon by his friend Dev Anand, to honour a promise made when they were working together at Prabhat, to direct 'Baazi', a crime thriller. 'Baazi' was a huge success and was a trendsetter in the genre of crime films. Most of the songs for the film were sung by Geeta Roy a star singer at that time. Guru Dutt and Geeta Roy met during the song recordings of 'Baazi' and fell in love, which culminated in marriage on 26th May 1953.

The decade of the SO's and early 60's saw him as a director as well as an actor and producer for a number of films. 'Aar Paar' released in 1954 established Guru Dutt as a director to reckon with, followed by some of his best works  like 'Mr. And  Mrs.  55', 'Pyaasa'  and 'Kaagaz  Ke Phool'. But 'Kaagaz Ke Phool' was a dismal failure at the box office and a dejected Guru Dutt never directed a film again, though he  continued to produce films and act in both home and outside productions. In fact soon after, he produced and acted in 'Chaudhavin Ka Chand', which was an instant success and helped Guru Dutt recoup all the losses that he had suffered in 'Kaagaz Ke Phool'. and 'Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam' won the President's silver medal as well as the Film of the Year award from the Bengal Film Journalists Association besides going to the Berlin Film Festival.

Apart from his own productions, Guru Dutt acted in outside productions like 'Twelve 0' clock', 'Sautela Bhai', 'Bahurani',  'Bharosa',  etc.

On October 10, 1964 the Hindi film world suffered a great lops with the demise of Guru Dutt.

As a director Guru Dutt was a perfectionist who never compromised on quality. He created a unique atmosphere through his sense of music, unique picturization of songs, subtle but intelligent dialogues, novel themes, depth of his characters, excellent use of lighting with  light  and  shade, and superb shots sometimes followed by close ups of actors highlighting their expression which went beyond the merely narrative function and made an impression  uniquely identified with their creator He also introduced  the use  of long focal length lenses, and 100mm as well as 75mm for close ups in Indian films. According to his one time assistant who went on to become a successful director, in his own right, Raj Khosla. "His ambition was not just  to  make  a good film or be one of the top film makers. He aspired  to make a great film, a different film and he wanted to be the best film maker. He always wanted things in absolute terms. Be it acclaim or success. He would settle for nothing less. Filmmaking  was  an  obsession  with  him".

The Department of Posts honours the unique legacy of Shri Guru Dutt through issue of this commemorative postage stamp.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India